This week, we’ll continue to explore Congress- in your reading, blogging, and our Congressional Simulation on Tuesday October 22. (make sure you complete the background research on your assigned Congressperson BEFORE class starts, so you can participate effectively in the simulation).

• Prepare for Congressional Simulation before class
• Actively participate in the simulationi during our Tuesday class 4:15-5:45pm (an easy and fun way to earn 15 points!)
• Team J, write a blog post; teams E & L read and respond.
• Everyone, write a midterm self-assessment blog post, analyzing the work you have done so far, and counting up any points you have earned already. Make sure to grade your first half of blogging out of 8 points- there should be 4 posts so far: intro, two content posts, and your midterm self-assessment (there’s instructions for how to grade your blogging here). Also include in your midterm self-assessment a plan for how you will complete the second half of the course successfully. If what you’ve been doing so far has been working, celebrate yourself! If you need to make some changes (allotting more time to classwork, improving (or starting!) your blogging and reading, or anything else), write down what you’re going to do, so you have a plan to follow.
• Take the Midterm Exam while it is open- October 25-28. The midterm is online, open-book (please look up the answers in your textbook, so you learn through taking the test), untimed, and you may take it as many times as you like

Also, two quick reminders about your blogging that can help all of us improve are: 

1.Pay attention to the requirements- 3-4 paragraphs and including a current news article in each post so you have some space to tell the rest of us something interesting and to do some thoughtful analysis, and

2. Be specific.  Speaking about anything in generalities robs your words of meaning.  Instead of civil liberties generally, write about a specific controversy!  Instead of a post that summarizes Congress superficially like this  (albeit classic!) video, find something specific and important to you to read, think, and write about.